


Different & Soft

by babybrotherdean



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Purgatory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 15:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12655899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babybrotherdean/pseuds/babybrotherdean
Summary: Benny slowly comes to see the softer side of Dean and becomes attached.





	Different & Soft

**Author's Note:**

> First theme for [Celebrating Dean](https://celebratingdean.tumblr.com/post/167151531092/celebrating-dean-a-weekly-dean-centric-event) was vampirism, so here is. A small thing.

Dean Winchester is irrefutably _different_.

Not just in the context of the creatures of Purgatory, either. Sure, there ain’t another human to be seen anywhere on this particular plane of existence, and Dean’s humanity- the _smell_ of him, the sound of his heart beating too fast in his chest- it’s damn hard to miss. Shines like a fucking beacon; a lighthouse at the far corner of a stormy sea. The allure of safety, of something beautiful and warm that draws in every monster close enough to sense it. That blinds them all just long enough to be dashed up against the rocks.

Benny had come damn close to making the same mistake, until he got through to Dean that he had something more to offer.

It’s not just his humanity, though. Not the blood that pumps through his veins, or the fire in his eyes during a messy confrontation. Not his voice, hoarse with frustration and disuse as he demands information of every monster stupid enough to pick a fight with him. Not even the way he cuts them down without hesitation or mercy, his makeshift blade an extension of his being while he hacks and slices his way through Purgatory. None of that is what makes him special.

The thing that sticks out most, after several weeks of watching Dean- learning his movements and habits, getting to know him no matter how hard he tries to stay quiet and hidden- is his softness.

It’s not that he lets it show very often. Benny can’t blame him for that much; it’s the sort of thing that gets a man killed in a place like this, and Dean- Dean’s already at a disadvantage. Most of the creatures in Purgatory are built to hunt his kind, and he can’t afford to expose another weakness. Certainly not to an enemy; not if he wants to stay alive long enough to escape.

Sometimes, though, he slips. Benny starts to watch for it, after the first time- the first little smile that Dean allows himself, exhausted but managing to breathe out a laugh when Benny asks him what he wants to do when he gets back.

“I want to eat like… twelve cheeseburgers,” Dean tells him, and Benny can’t- he can’t look away. It’s like all of Dean’s hard edges have rounded out, for that short moment, the two of them huddled around a small fire. It’s too dangerous to keep it going for long, but they’re soaking up the warmth while they can. “And a whole pie.”

That side of him creeps out more often the longer they spend together, and Benny starts to crave it. Like a drug; like he’s no longer solely focused on his means of escape. Like maybe there’s something else now that motivates him to keep fighting. Like he’s found himself something to fight _for_. Something to protect.

Freedom is no longer the only light he sees at the end of this tunnel. It’s been joined by warm green eyes and a familiar heartbeat; a smile that leaves him weaker in the knees than he cares to admit. A human who, by all rights, should’ve been dead the moment he stepped foot in this hellish place.

Dean Winchester is different. Dean Winchester is _special;_ soft in a place that should’ve turned him into nothing but jagged edges, and Benny doesn’t intend to lose him. No so long as he’s alive to keep him safe.


End file.
